Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Regina Walker -- healer, artist, friend

Regina is a psychotherapist by profession, and from her soul-delving posts, I get the sense she is a healer by innate constitution. Such compassion toward and understanding of the human condition is not something one really learns. Rather it is a quality of spirit.

I must admit that it took a long time for me to work up the nerve to make friendly overtures. From early on, I was a bit unsteady in the cyber-presence of her quiet sophistication. I mean...I live in the middle of a cotton field in Arkansas. She visits the Museum of Modern Art, for Pete's sake! But over time, her natural warmth became apparent to me. She is not stuck-up at all. She is down-to-earth and has become a dear friend. She likes Bob Dylan and Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen and other stuff.

Regina is also a writer. Regina is also a photographer. Her spontaneous pictures of New York locales are mysterious to me. Sort of like riddles. It's how these scenes of ordinariness are charged with allusive power. That's where the artist comes in: framing shots that reveal more than what is normally perceived. Evocations bloom in the mind while looking at her photographs. It's like a form of abstract art. Especially her focus on surfaces the textures of which convey ennui, entropy, melancholy. She also plays with shadows and reflections to create moody moments.

Apart from those aspects, there is another: the mostly unperceived, down-in-the-grooves life of a great city is brought to our attention. Those areas of the city she captures reveal personalities and histories. The collective after-glow of human passion and struggle is implicit in many of these pictures.

Recently, her images were featured in a group exhibition in Florida. And here is a link to her portfolio: Regina's Portfolio

Another reason Regina is an artist is because she loves paintings. One doesn't have to wield a brush, in my opinion, to have the soul of a painter. A depth of appreciation helps bring the works of an artist to life, and farther into the world. I have learned much -- been exposed to painters I knew little about -- through Regina's enthusiasm and tasteful selection of posted images.

Regina is solid. At least she seems so to me. Who knows what whirlwinds and shadows pass through the soul of another? But she always appears to me as an image and source of solid strength. Of poise. Of quiet humor. Of generosity and soulful empathy.

Regina seems to me to be a person of quiet depth and soulful intelligence. And of aesthetic sensitivity. I envy your getting to have actual conversations with her. And thank you for reading this piece. ~ Tim